Happy Halloween Tuesday News: “The Plot Against America”; “To what circle of hell are Republicans about to consign themselves?”

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday (Halloween), October 31. Also note that Virginia’s crucial elections are in exactly one week from today — if you don’t know where your polling place is, you can click here to find out.

How Did Any of These Guys Get Hired by Trump? (“Whatever else Monday’s indictments revealed, they confirm that the president exercised extraordinarily poor judgment in staffing his campaign.” Only the slimiest of the slimy and/or the craziest of the crazy ended up on the Trump campaign.)

UN warns of ‘unacceptable’ greenhouse gas emissions gap (“Report reveals large gap between government pledges and the reductions needed to prevent dangerous global warming” We SHOULD be on a war footing when it comes to slashing greenhouse gas emissions, but we’re not. Massive #FAIL – thanks a LOT fossil fuel interests!)

Mueller Quietly Dropped a Bombshell on Monday — and It Wasn’t About Manafort (“But by every objective measure, Papadopoulos, minor actor though he seems to be, is the biggest bombshell of Monday’s revelations — and Mueller’s first major signal of what he’s been up to since his appointment last May. For one, the acts that gave rise to Papadopoulos’s conviction arose and were investigated by the FBI before Mueller was tapped to lead the probe into links between the Trump campaign and Moscow — which undercuts Trump’s repeated claims that the special counsel is on a witch hunt and that collusion never occurred.”)

Rubio defends Gillespie on the trail in Virginia (“Before the event, protesters from CASA in Action, Indivisible and other liberal groups marched outside the warehouse, chanting anti-Gillespie slogans and carrying a large banner demanding Gillespie “return to K Street” and other signs labeling the GOP ‘the party of racism.’ A protester also interrupted the event as Rubio began speaking, demanding an immediate end to deportations.”)

Candidates snapshot: 2017 Virginia governor’s race (Wait, this profile claims Gillespie “would support legislation that would address the rights restoration of nonviolent felons, giving them the right to serve on a jury, be a notary public or vote,” yet he has viciously attacked Ralph Northam for…exactly that!)

Editorial: Vogel and Herring at the state Capitol (Vogel has run a toxic, utterly despicable campaign; for an editorial board to endorse her is just…my god. As for Mark Herring vs. John Adams, this one’s an easy choice, one which even the Virginian-Pilot couldn’t mess up.)